130925-studie-wildlife-comeback-in-europe

Rank Reason for change Description
1 Species management
– Reintroductions and
translocations
Translocations played a role both in the recovery of
range and numbers initially, particularly during the
1980s and 1990s, with the exception of Maestrazgo,
where ibex were established in 1966 [1, 7] .
Reintroductions have taken place into a number of
sites in Spain and northern Portugal [24] .
2 Legislation The Iberian ibex is protected under the Bern
Convention (Appendix III) [22] and the EU Habitats
and Species Directive (Annex V) [23] .
Several parks and refuges have been set up for
the protection of the species, e.g. the Sierra de
Gredos National Refuge in 1905 [10, 18] to preserve the
remaining individuals of C. p. victoriae [7] .
3 Land/water protection &
management – Land use
change
4 Species management –
Reduction of threats
Table 3.
Major reasons for
positive change in the
status of the Iberian
ibex in Europe.
New habitat becoming available as a result of
rural abandonment has had positive effects on
distribution and abundance [17] .
Recovery from past mange outbreaks was
attributed not only to game management
translocations but also decreased hunting
pressure [33] .
and increasing [17] . All of the subspecies now occur
in at least one protected area, and additional
populations of C. p. victoriae have been established
to protect them against detrimental stochastic
events [17] . Efforts were recently made to revive
the extinct C. p. pyrenaica through the cloning of
cells obtained from the last living specimen and
placement into Iberian ibex or hybrid recipients [38] .
However, this approach proved unsuccessful, and
most conservationists agree that it is not appropriate,
practical or valuable to invest further in this
process [27] .
Despite the recovery of the Iberian ibex, a
number of threats remain. Populations of wild
Caprinae are particularly vulnerable to extinction
because of genetic isolation, specialised habitat
requirements, and low reproductive rate [39] .
The increasing presence of domestic livestock
in the ibex’s range could, for example, lead to
an increase in competition for resources [21] . In
addition, livestock also transmit diseases to wild
ungulates [7, 40] , and in the ibex, sarcoptic mange
outbreaks have been a problem in the past [7, 40] , with
95% mortality occurring in some populations [41] .
Pressure from tourism, which is currently being
studied in the Sierra Nevada population, has
also been suggested as a possible future threat [1] .
Furthermore, hunting should be banned in
areas where extensive exploitation cannot be
sustained, and appropriate monitoring of Iberian
ibex population numbers needs to be in place [17] .
In addition, any management strategies need
to be considered separately for each of the two
subspecies [36] .
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